


'build a girl a cabin'

by MadeNightwing



Series: 'learning as you go' [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Cabin building, Emerald is quite good at hunting, F/M, Future Fic, Happily Ever After, Mercury is a surprisingly good handyman, Unplanned Pregnancy, cabin by a lake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28466082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadeNightwing/pseuds/MadeNightwing
Summary: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Cat. I hope to drop more Emercury goodness in 2021 as well, including that 'modern bodyguard au' you were interested in.
Relationships: Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai
Series: 'learning as you go' [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076258
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	'build a girl a cabin'

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catsintei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsintei/gifts).



They found it a day’s walk away from the village in the lowlands. Against the backdrop of the mountains, up the hill from a creek fed from the glacier. The pine forest pressed thick on every side, save for the small clearing looking out over the lake.

Emerald dropped her pack, eyes widening as she took in the view. ‘You weren’t joking about the lake…’

‘Told you we’d find the right spot.’ Merc bumped her shoulder. ‘Close enough for fresh water…’

‘…and high enough to avoid flooding.’ Em bumped him back. ‘I remember. Think there’s enough pines for a cabin?’

‘Mmm, maybe enough for two stories.’ Merc made a frame with his hands. ‘I think we’ll start off with two bedrooms, a kitchen area and a nice little living room with a fireplace.’

Emerald wrapped her arms around his waist, going up on her tip-toes to rest her head on his shoulder. ‘I like the sound of the fireplace. How long till winter gets here?’

‘This far south? Nine weeks, maybe ten if we’re lucky. It’ll take us about eight to build the cabin, good weather permitting.’ Mercury glanced at the tools loaded in their packs. ‘A lot of that will be bringing down the lumber and sinking some decent foundations. Don’t want the whole thing crumbling under us in the night.’

Turning toward her, his face grew serious. ‘It will start getting cold soon. If we can’t finish the cabin before winter really sets in, we might need to think about going back to the last village and riding out the winter there.’

‘You think I’m afraid of a little cold?’ Emerald pulled back, lips set in a pout.

‘Don’t be like that…’ Merc trailed off, his eyes nervously flicking from her face to her middle. ‘I didn’t mind sleeping rough when it was just you and I, but…I want you to be somewhere warm and safe.’

Emerald took his hands, her fingers firmly entwined with his. ‘What ever you build. Whatever _we_ build, will be more than warm enough for me…and for the baby. She’ll be tough, just like us.’

‘She?’ Mercury cocked an eye, his old grin chasing the worry from his face. ‘So certain already?’

‘A mother knows these things.’ Emerald batted her eyes, a finger innocently twirling a green curl. ‘Come on, we can think up new names while we catch some dinner.’

\------------------------------

‘Hello, neighbour!’

Emerald’s hand went for the stolen pistol at her hip on instinct. Merc’s hand stopped it halfway out of the holster, his head shaking faintly.

‘Hello yourself,’ he called to the approaching group. ‘How can we help?’

‘Look like you’re the ones who need a hand.’ The first speaker, a stocky man with iron-grey hair, dismounted the wagon as it halted at the edge of the clearing. ‘Tank Farnham, I own the homestead further down the valley. One of my boys saw you bringing down logs yesterday, realised you’d beat me to doing something with this clearing. Looks like you’ve been busy.’

Emerald couldn’t help but agree. Stripped to the waist, Mercury stood beside a stack of felled pines, the result of almost a solid week of work. For normal people, such an effort would have required a dozen hands at their axes. For huntsmen, most trees could be brought down in a few swings. The time-consuming part was trimming back the branches. Emerald had been kept busy measuring out the foundations in accordance with Merc’s rough sketching.

Mercury bit his lip, a frown building on his face. ‘We haven’t started on your land, have we? If so, I’m sure we could work out a deal to…’

‘Peace, lad.’ Farnham held up a hand. ‘Only land a man owns round here is what he can stake out for himself. My wife Mauve and I thought we’d bring some of our lads up here and give you a hand. We remember what it was like trying to get our own start in these parts.’

‘Folk were suspicious in those times.’ A woman with fading red hair climbed down beside him. ‘Often you’d go to borrow a glass of sugar and have to duck the gunfire. We should try and be better.’

‘You’re very kind,’ Emerald stepped forward. ‘But we’ve really got nothing to pay you with…’

‘Well, we could always use an extra set of hands come harvest time,’ Tank said. ‘But even if you weren’t amenable to that, you’d be obliging me by allowing my boys to help out. A good hand with timber’s worth more than lien this far out. Only way to get good is by doing.’

‘We accept,’ Mercury said before Emerald could stop him. ‘And I’d be glad to help with the harvest. Even then it seems like we’d still be in your debt.’

‘Don’t go thinking about debts,’ Tank waved him off. ‘You got a name, son?’

‘Mercury.’

‘You got a last name, son?’

‘Yes, of course.’

Farnham continued to stare at him expectantly. Mercury searched his mind for any old aliases or codenames that might be useful.

‘It’s White. Mercury White.’

The sharp slap of flesh on flesh preceded a concerned gasp from Mauve. ‘Oh my dear…are you alright?’

‘Perfectly,’ Emerald said, lowering her hand from her face. ‘Just a fly. I’m Emerald.’

‘Well, Mr and Mrs White,’ Tank beamed at them. ‘Welcome to Skyreach Valley.’

\----------------------------

The roof went up one week before the snow came down. By that time, with the help of Emerald’s hunting, Mercury’s tanning and a truly ludicrous amount of free labour from the Farnham boys and their parents, the inside was as ready to go as the out.

There was no glass for windows. Wooden shutters did the job well enough. They would trade for them next spring. The cold wasn’t as bad as Emerald had feared. The snow was thick on the ground, but with snowshoes and skies she and Mercury could still hunt the occasional rabbit.

The less said about their first few attempts at skiing, the better.

The nights got cold, but with a truly prodigious amount of firewood left over from the cabin’s construction, and some thick furs bought from the Farnhams, they could ride them out easily enough. Especially when they shared body heat.

On one such night they lay in front of the fire, Emerald’s eyes lost in the embers, her hands securing Mercury’s around the growing bump.

‘By this time next year she’ll be crawling around,’ Emerald murmured. ‘Doesn’t that feel strange?’

‘Maybe a little.’ Mercury kissed her neck, nuzzling his face into the hollow of her shoulder. ‘It’ll be warmer by then. Once I get the joints properly sealed and trade for the glass.’

‘Then the winter after that she’ll be walking.’ Emerald melted back into him, enjoying the tiny patterns he traced on her skin. ‘We could take her down to the lake when the frost comes…teach her how to skate.’

‘Do _you_ know how to skate?’

Emerald made an offended huff. ‘What kind of self-respecting thief doesn’t know how to make a quick getaway down a frozen river?’

‘Hmm…’ Mercury started suddenly as he felt something. ‘Did she just…?’

‘She did,’ Emerald confirmed, her smile spreading wider. ‘Wonderful, isn’t it?’

‘I mean…sooner or later she’s going to turn around and start kicking your kidneys…’

‘Shhh, just let it be magical for the moment.’ Emerald closed her eyes and let the warmth envelop her. ‘Should we start on the cradle tomorrow?’

‘Mmm,’ Mercury glanced at the wood he’d selected for the task. ‘It’ll be the best cradle that human hands have ever made.’

\-------------------------------

‘Well son.’ Tank rested a hand on Mercury’s shoulder. ‘It’s _a_ cradle, that’s for sure.’

Mercury stared at his month long project and sighed. ‘Full disclosure, I’ve never actually seen a cradle before in my life.’

‘Yes, that’s what I figured.’ Tank turned to wink at Emerald. ‘I’ll let you have a look at ours. I’d let you borrow it, but the wife and I might have need of it soon as well.’

‘Some cold nights this winter,’ Mauve giggled. The agonised expression on Mercury’s face brought a grin to Emerald’s.

‘What will you do now that spring’s here?’ Tank said, moving Mercury toward the main room of the cabin.

‘Prepare for the next winter,’ Mercury said without hesitation. ‘We’ll to hunt for furs and meat to trade back at the village.’

‘That’ll only get you so far,’ Tank noted. His eyes roved over the pieces of furniture that dotted the living room. ‘You made all of these yourself?’

‘With my help,’ Emerald called from the improvised (for now) kitchen.

‘You’ve got some good pieces,’ Tank noted. ‘Honestly, you could get almost as much for a well made chair as you might for a decent pelt. More, in some cases. Most people out this way can hunt and trap, not too many can work wood like this. I’d be willing to pay a decent sum for good rocking chair. Could loan you some lien against future work as well.’

Mercury blinked. ‘You’d be willing to do that? With no guarantee?’

‘Lad, you live out in the wild long enough and a person’s word becomes their guarantee. You and your wife have managed to last five months, plus a winter. That’s more than a lot of hopers can say. I’d say it’s a safe loan.’

Mercury met Emerald’s eyes across the room. She was as dumbstruck at the generosity as he was. Tank, Mauve and their family…they didn’t want anything from them. Not power. Not revenge. Not control. Just an extra hand to the plough come planting season and a well-made rocking chair.

From the look in her eyes, she was thinking the same thing he was.

‘Tank…’

‘Yes, Mercury?’

‘Emerald and I…we have something to tell you…the truth…’ Mercury’s voice faltered, the truth sticking in his throat. ‘Um…Em?’

‘Right…’ she coughed. ‘The truth…the truth. Um…the truth is? Mercury and I aren’t actually married.’

Mauve winced at the impact of Mercury’s hand against his face. ‘Just a fly?’

Tank on the other hand, just chuckled. ‘Well, do you want to be?’

\------------------------------

Both Mercury and Emerald decided it was wiser not question why Mauve’s old wedding dress was maternity sized.

\---------------------------------

The midwife took her spectacles off and breathed on the lenses, wiping them clear and peering at the scene in front of her.

‘Normally,’ she said, ‘I prefer the father to be in the room in order to provide comfort and support. In his case, I think that might be a step in the wrong direction.’

Tank glanced at where Mercury was frantically pacing up and down, fists clenching and unclenching and face locked in a mask of pure panic. ‘I’ll some way to keep him occupied.’

\------------------------------------

‘There’s no need to worry, son.’ Tank’s voice from beside him did nothing to ease Mercury’s worry. ‘That midwife’s delivered dozens of babies in this valley, including most of mine.’

‘I’m not worried,’ Mercury said.

‘That line you’re wearing in my carpet says otherwise.’

Mercury stopped moving, glancing down to see the slight gouge on floor and fabric where the weight of his prosthetics was starting to make a noticeable impression. With an exasperated grunt he sank into the couch, hands clasped tight together as another cry echoed through the cabin from upstairs.

‘I should be in there with her.’ Mercury whispered.

‘How you are right now? You’d do more harm than good.’ Tank shook his head. ‘Right now she’ll be scared. She’s got every right to be. And if you were up there panicking next to her instead of panicking down here then she’d be even worse off.’

‘Then I’m useless?’

‘Sometimes the best thing someone can do is just stay out of the way.’

_If it doesn’t involve violence, what use are you?_

‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do this.’ Mercury stared into his hands. Hands coated with more blood than Marcus Black could ever have managed. ‘I don’t know to be a father. My father was…’

‘Your father ain’t got a single damn thing to do with this.’ Tank interrupted. The man’s brow was sharply creased. ‘Don’t you go using him as an excuse, now.’

‘I’m not.’ Merc protested. ‘I-I won’t, but it’s just…’

‘You wanna know how to be a good father, kid? It’s simple. That kid’s gonna come into this world hungry. So you make sure they’re fed. They’re gonna get cold. You make sure there’s wood for the fire and fur for their crib. They’re gonna cry. You be there to dry their tears. When they get hurt, patch ‘em back up. When they do right, make sure they know it. When they do wrong, make sure they know to do better.’

‘That’s it?’

‘That’s all I know, kid.’ Tank gave a sigh, wincing a little as another cry rang out. ‘Just being there is half the battle sometimes.’

‘Not always.’ Mercury glanced down, the scars beneath his sleeves twinging at the sudden reminder. ‘Sometimes parents that are there are worse.’

Tank went silent at that, the big man’s jaw working softly as he processed the words. Finally he let out a heavy sigh, before he walked back toward his own kitchen. He reappeared with a bottle of amber liquid and two mugs.

‘I don’t feel like drinking,’ Merc said.

‘Me neither,’ Tank said. ‘This is non-alcoholic cider.’

Mercury felt it was wise not to ask why that was his choice of beverage. He still didn’t feel thirsty, but it was better to have something in his hands. Something to focus on besides the soft cries occasionally turning loud upstairs.

They sat like that for a while, quietly sipping and contemplating the rug in front of them. Mercury’s eyes moved to the stairs every minute or so, trying to summon up the courage to climb them. Then Emerald would cry out again and his legs would turn to jelly, his hand clawing at the arm of the chair he sat on.

‘Y’know, I’m not gonna pretend to know what your childhood was like.’ Tank swirled his mug, contemplating the contents with heavy eyes. ‘My dad…he wasn’t perfect, but he loved me. Cared about me and my brother. Wasn’t his fault I turned out like I did.’

Mercury’s head jerked up sharply, his eyes meeting Tank’s as the older man smiled bitterly.

‘You really think you’re the only one that turned your back on a violent life? Half the people this far south came looking for something better.’

‘Then you know…?’

‘I don’t know what it is that you did or what you feel about it,’ Tank cut him off firmly. ‘You don’t need to know mine either. It’s in the past, dead and buried where it belongs.’

_The past never stays buried. Not until anyone who knew about it is meat for the worms._

‘Mercury…you were strong enough to make it this far, weren’t you? You both were.’

‘Barely…’ Merc croaked through a dry throat. ‘Everything happened so fast, it was like we didn’t have time to think.’

‘But you made it. Not fearless, not undefeated. Just strong enough. Just brave enough. Just clever enough. Sometimes that’s all that matters. Now, your new wife needs you. Your new kid needs you. But she needs you calm.’

Merc placed his mug down on the table. ‘Or maybe just calm enough?’

Tank flashed him a grin. ‘Now you’re getting it.’

\------------------------

Emerald really did feel like her throat was about to explode. Along with several other things.

‘Coming along just fine, dear,’ Mauve said kindly. She and the midwife stood either side of the bed. ‘A few more minutes should do it. Just a few more minutes, easy now…’

‘I’m scared,’ Emerald whimpered. ‘Should it be taking this long?’

‘Some deliveries take longer than others,’ the midwife said. ‘You’ve been so brave, dear. Just a little longer.’

Emerald’s hands made fists in the sheets, searching for something solid to grab.

Familiar fingers found hers first. She didn’t need to look to know who they belonged to. ‘Merc…’

‘I’m here.’ His voice was soft and steady. Not calm, not by a long shot. But he was there. They’d been separated, but they’d found each other. Again and again.

Her fingers interlocked in Mercury’s, squeezing until she could feel his bones creak at the pressure. His other hand rested on her hair, slowly stroking her sweat-soaked locks whilst he murmured quiet reassurances.

‘Alright, I need you to push. Push now!’

Emerald didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. She screamed. And when her scream finally stopped, another rose to take its place.

‘It’s a girl, Em,’ Merc’s voice sounded faint, though whether that was her or him she didn’t know. ‘She’s…she’s beautiful…’

‘Give her here,’ Emerald begged. ‘Please…’

Wrapped in a soft towel, the midwife carefully laid the small bundle against Emerald’s chest. Emerald had to repress the strange urge to giggle. It didn’t look beautiful at all. Wrinkled skin and a tuft of grey hair, and a tiny screwed up face. That was alright. She was hers. Hers and Mercury’s. So strange. So wonderful. Almost like…

‘Well, that was a good first round.’ The midwife’s voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘Now for the next one.’

Emerald’s head shot up. ‘Next one?’

‘Yes dear.’ The midwife sighed. ‘Seems you’re carrying twins.’

There was a thud from the side of the bed.

‘Pour some water on him, Mauve. I think he’ll want to be awake for this.’

\-----------------------------------

Emerald lightly played with the silver fuzz on Juneau’s head as she rocked her daughter in her arms. The baby burped agreeably, matching red eyes meeting hers as tiny fingers tried to tug on her mother’s green locks.

‘I think this little one’s ready for cuddles with Daddy.’ Emerald rubbed Juneau’s nose one last time before looking up for Mercury. ‘Pass me…’

The words caught in her throat. With his head propped up on a cushion, Mercury was snoozing comfortably on the grass in front of the cabin’s porch. And propped up on Mercury’s chest, held in place by one of his father’s hands, was Jett. Green curls shone in the spring sunlight, his breathing deep and easy as he nuzzled into Mercury’s neck.

‘Well, maybe they can wait a little bit longer.’ Emerald murmured. She didn’t think either of them would mind too much.

Juneau gave a patient yawn, closing her eyes in preparation for her own nap. Emerald felt her own eyes flickering, the birdsong in the trees.

‘You know something?’ Emerald sunk back into her chair. The chair she’d built (with a little help from Mercury). ‘I don’t think either of us really know what we’re doing. No one ever showed us. But that’s alright.’

She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s brow. ‘We’ll do our best.’

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Cat. I hope to drop more Emercury goodness in 2021 as well, including that 'modern bodyguard au' you were interested in.


End file.
